Mahler* - New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein – Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"

As a professional tuba player I’m more familiar with this recording than almost anything else ever recorded! I have to agree that the pops/clicks need to be sorted by the plating and pressing folks that DG is using. I will say that the sound itself beats the CD version 10 fold. I’m hearing Warren Deck do things I’ve never heard before.

This is not part of the Original Source series and therefor the room mics (from the quad tapes) are not in play, and likely don’t exists as this was probably a pure digital recording. Folks find the Original Source series “distant” due to mixing the 4 quad channels down to 2. I’m not hearing this recording as distant at all. 5 stars, but wish the plating and pressing was better.

Absolutely unlistenable. Paid $70 for a brand new “audiophile” pressing and the orchestra sounds a mile away. Vinyl is obscenely loud with clicks and handling damage throughout BOTH copies I attempted. Not to mention both also having indescribable inner groove distortion (and my cart almost NEVER gets IGD). Really unbelievable I’m gunna have to shell out hundreds of dollars for an older copy. I just don’t understand how quality control for modern vinyl has gotten this out of control, especially if you’re going to take that much money from people.

Basically this is a great performance in mediocre sound. The orchestra sounds distant, remote. Even at big climaxes when it gets loud, it feels like the sound is not blooming fully. The timpani are all noise and no tone. Additionally, the vinyl is not quiet. Everyone knows contemporary DG records tend to be quite noisy. You get lots and lots of little ticks throughout the records. The outer sleeve looks nice from a distance, but up close it is flimsy cardboard and basically you can't believe the shitty packaging you get for a $60 record.

How about some positives? Well, you can really hear the organ at the end of the symphony, and it makes a glorious noise. The symphony makes a tremendous emotional effect and I was moved to tears at the end.

Based on what DG has tried to do with the Original Source series, I would say that flawed recordings like this cannot be rehabilitated as audiophile records. So if you want this recording, you will have to live with the way it sounds. I recommend this despite reservations. Someday I hope to add to my collection a true audiophile recording of this piece with a great performance in great sound. But this will do for now.